Neighbors call for changes on 65th Street

After 67 injuries and one death in three years a Seattle community is asking the city to make changes along one of their main streets.

Author:
Josh Green

Published:
6:39 PM PDT June 16, 2016

Updated:
6:39 PM PDT June 16, 2016

SEATTLE - After 67 injuries and one death in three years, a Seattle community is asking the city to make changes along one of their main streets.

Their focus is on Northeast 65th Street between 20th Avenue Northeast and Northeast Ravenna Blvd.

"This street is one of the top 10 most dangerous streets in the city, and I think it's our responsibility as a city council to highlight those unsafe conditions," Councilmember Rob Johnson said at a community walk Thursday.

More than three dozen people walked the route to talk about solutions.

"There are four schools along this road, a senior center, light rail soon and more housing coming online. It just isn't working for anyone." Katherine Mackinnon said. "Many of the cars on the street travel too fast, and it can be really difficult to turn left, meaning cars pass on the right."

Resident Andres Salomon dug into Seattle Department of Transportation stats and discovered there were 66 injuries, one serious injury, and one fatality these last three years.

One of the most publicized happened in June of last year. A 45-year-old cyclist died in the Roosevelt neighborhood after a suspected intoxicated driver hit him. SPD traffic collision investigators believe the driver of a red Subaru was headed eastbound on NE 65th Street around 11 p.m. on a Saturday night when he struck the cyclist from behind near 15th Avenue NE.

Seattle police arrested the 29-year-old driver at the scene.

"For me this is about how do we take the budget that we've got and prioritize it in a way that makes our street safer for people," Councilmember Johnson said. "It doesn't cost a lot of money for us to restripe a street. It doesn't cost a lot of money for us to put in those posts for a protected bike line. These are not expensive treatments. It's not the same as taking a road all the way down to the studs and building it back up."

SDOT said in a statement it was open to suggestions.

"We look forward to working with the community on their observation and safety improvement suggestions," said Dongho Chang, SDOT City traffic engineer. "We'll carefully review and evaluate them based on data and our modal plans."